BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Borneo Bulletin/ANN): A 24-year-old local man was sentenced to 26 months’ imprisonment by the Bandar Magistrate’s Court after pleading guilty to four charges of extortion involving two women through social media in September and November 2025.
Awang Mohammad Mazwan Safwan bin Jahari admitted to intentionally extorting the victims by instilling fear through the TikTok application.
Magistrate Syaffina binti Shahif handed down the sentence after the defendant pleaded guilty to all four charges read against him.
According to the first charge seen in court documents, the defendant extorted a woman, referred to as Victim A, via TikTok on September 16, 2025. He initially requested photographs for “verification” purposes before threatening to spread her pictures along with her phone number if she blocked him.
The defendant further warned that the images would be circulated unless Victim A complied with his demands, including sending a photo of her face while uttering obscene words. Out of fear, the victim complied by sending a photo showing her face and top, but refused to send further images involving her undergarments.
Victim A later blocked the defendant’s TikTok account and informed her mother. That same evening, they lodged a police report at Muara Police Station. Subsequent investigations led to the defendant’s arrest.
Further investigations revealed that the defendant had also directed Victim A to send selfies while repeatedly threatening to distribute the images to frighten her.
In a separate incident on November 18, 2025, another victim, identified as Victim B, received messages from the defendant’s TikTok account, ‘muttwithrah’, which she had recently come across. The defendant asked personal questions, requested that she follow his Snapchat account and provide her phone number.
Fearing her images would be spread, Victim B complied with his instructions before informing her mother. Her mother later checked the Telegram application and managed to read several messages before they were deleted, believed to have been erased by the defendant.
Concerned that the images might be circulated, Victim B and her parents lodged a police report at Sengkurong Police Station on the same night.
The following day, Victim B continued to receive threatening messages, including screenshots showing a collection of her images. The defendant then instructed her to use Telegram and send indecent photographs. Acting out of fear, she complied.
The defendant continued issuing threats until Victim B refused to comply further, after which the threats ceased. Investigations found that the defendant had obtained indecent images of the victim, including partially nude photographs.
On November 19, 2025, the defendant again threatened Victim B after seeing negative comments about his TikTok account posted by one of her friends, with the intention of frightening her into sending more images.
Although the defendant admitted to ordering Victim B to send explicit photographs to intimidate her, he claimed that he did not distribute the images.
On November 20, 2025, the defendant sent all of Victim B’s images back to her via TikTok and warned her to continue complying with his demands to prevent the images from being spread. He falsely claimed that the images had already been circulated at her school in order to further intimidate her.
Court records revealed that the defendant has previous convictions.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurulatikah binti Haji Husaini. – Borneo Bulletin/ANN
